Health Information Technology, M.H.I.T.

Robert G. Brookshire, Ph.D., Director of Graduate Studies in Health Information Technology
M. Mahmud Khan, Ph.D., Department Chair, Health Services Policy and Management
Elizabeth A. Regan, Ph.D., Department Chair, Integrated Information Technology

Admission Requirements
Learning Outcomes
Degree Requirements

The Masters of Health Information Technology (MHIT) is an interdisciplinary program with the Arnold School of Public Health. The program is housed within the Integrated Information Technology (IIT) Department in the College of Engineering and Computing. This professional degree program prepares students with expertise in management of both health care systems and information technology. It is designed to create a workforce of highly skilled IT experts and managers in healthcare, and to provide leadership and know-how as the USA moves toward a more technologically advanced and efficient healthcare system.

Admission Requirements

Beyond completing the normal application process through the graduate school, applicants to the MHIT program must have an undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of at least a 3.0 and submit GRE or GMAT scores. An admissions scorecard will be used to evaluate applicants, weighing the applicant’s GPA, test scores, reference letters, previous professional experience, and career goal statement. This will allow the balancing of test scores, GPA, experience in or motivation for a health IT career, and letters of recommendation. Applicants with prior graduate degrees may be considered for waiver of GRE/GMAT scores on a case-by-case basis.

Learning Outcomes

Students use and apply current technical concepts and practices in the foundational health and information technology domains.

Students are able to identify and analyze user needs and take them into account in the selection, creation, evaluation and administration of health IT.

Students are able to integrate health IT based solutions into the user environment effectively.

Students are able to identify health IT best practices and standards and their application.

Students are able to assist in the creation of an effective health IT project plan.

Degree Requirements (36 Hours)

Students take a combined 36 credit hours of coursework from both the IIT Department and from the Arnold School of Public Health. Students take a core of six courses (18 credit hours), four from IIT and two from the Arnold School’s Department of Health Services Policy and Management. Students then choose four elective courses (12 credit hours), including at least one from Integrated Information Technology and one from the Arnold School of Public Health, and complete an internship of six credit hours.

The required internship (6 credit hours) consists of a minimum of 250 hours of approved health information technology work experience to be completed during the summer. It also requires a research paper, which will be evaluated as the student’s comprehensive assessment of program learning outcomes. The integration of work experience with academic research is designed to provide a structured format for students to reflect on their work experience and relate it to content and theory learned across the program.

Courses are conducted online or in a traditional classroom setting offered in the evenings and weekends to fit the schedules of working professionals. Depending on their professional experience and interest, students can tailor their program to gain breadth and depth in either the health or information technology components. Students with undergraduate degrees or extensive professional experience in healthcare would take most of their electives in information technology, while students with undergraduate degrees or experience in information technology would take their electives from the health component.